Esmond III, Emperor of Austenasia
HIM Emperor Esmond III, now known as HIH Lord Esmond McLaughlin, 3rd Duke of Royton, was Emperor of Austenasia between February 2010 and September 2011, ruling alongside HIM Emperor Declan I from 19 December 2010 onwards, although only nominally from 31 March 2011. He currently holds the rank of Caesar. Esmond III ascended to the Throne after the abdication of Emperor Terry I, and after leading the nation through the Austenasian Civil War significantly strengthened the position of the Austenasian Monarchy, the Throne holding a lot more political influence during his reign than it had done previously. His reign was instrumental in transitioning the Monarchy from the constitutionally-bound ceremonial role of Terry I to the semi-absolute proactive rule of Declan I and the incumbent Jonathan I. It also resulted in the first time that a group outside of the Empire - the many British Esmondians in the Austenasian Army - was able to significantly influence government policy. During the zenith of his power in the summer and autumn of 2010, Esmond III held a large amount of influence over the Carshalton Nations, all of which at some point directly acknowledged him as suzerain or overlord. Between the Austenasian Civil War and the War of the Orlian Reunification, Esmond III was often referred to as the Western Emperor after he began to claim to be successor to the Western and Holy Roman Emperors - however, after the War of the Orlian Reunification, he was replaced in this respect by Declan I. On 31 March 2011, Parliament passed a vote of no confidence against Esmond III in response to his increasingly eccentric plans for Austenasia (e.g. transformation into a communist dictatorship, the establishment of tens of seasons in the calendar per month, etc). This deprived him of the powers of the Throne, although he remained titular Monarch - this title was removed on 20 September 2011 by the enactment of the 2011 Constitution. Later that year he was appointed Prince of Copan, as well as King of Saqqara as "King Ptolemy IV", titles he held until 2012 and 2013 respectively. Since the abdication of Declan I and the ascension to the Throne of the incumbent Jonathan I, the reign of Esmond III has become remembered mostly for the spread of Austenasian influence throughout the local area, together with the creation of the modern conception of the Austenasian Emperor as a proactive monarch in succession from Rome. Despite no longer holding any political offices, Esmond remains a Caesar of the Empire, his status as which is greatly respected in the Carshalton Nations, the social life of which he still plays an active part in. Pre-reign Esmond III was born on 9 June 1995 in the United Kingdom, and attended the same secondary school as the now Emperor Jonathan I. On 14 October 2009, Esmond was appointed Duke of Highland after Emperor Terry I relinquished this title. He chose the title "Dark Lord" instead of the customary "Lord" because it apparently sounded better. As a further symbolic honour, the future Emperor was made second in Line to the Throne through Act 105 on 25 October, as a purely ceremonial gesture - he was not expected to actually inherit the Throne, seeing as there was no clue Emperor Terry would abdicate nor that the then Crown Prince Jonathan would refuse the Throne. When Terry I unexpectedly abdicated on 15 February 2010, Crown Prince Jonathan refused the Throne so as to remain Prime Minister. He met Dark Lord Esmond in Sutton town centre the day afterwards with a draft of Act 113 (Abdication of HIM Emperor Terry I). The Act was signed at approximately 14:40, at the 151 bus stop outside Matalans, making Emperor Esmond III the new Monarch of the Empire. Reign While Emperor Esmond held the powers of the Throne, he was the head of a constitutional monarchy in which the Emperor has the ability to hold substantial power. While Terry I was content with his role as a constitutional and mainly ceremonial monarch, Emperor Esmond assumed a much more proactive role, helped by his popularity amongst the population and armed forces. Austenasian Civil War On 7 March 2010, Lord General William declared civil war upon the Emperor in a violent attempt to uphold the then Princess Caroline's claim to the Throne. Esmond III learnt of this at about 08:10 the following morning and passed Act 116 (Austenasian Civil War) just over two hours later. Act 116: *Accepted the declaration of war and mobilised the Austenasian Army. *Removed Lord General William of all Austenasian titles and offices, making the Emperor the 3rd Duke of Royton and making Crown Prince Jonathan the new Minister of Defence. *Disbanded South Kilttown Police Force and the 1st South Kilttown Grenadiers Platoon, and placed South Kilttown under martial law. *Disbanded the Imperial Navy and Imperial Air Force, and transferred their functions to the Austenasian Army. *Made the low-security house arrest of Princess Caroline official. The Emperor helped the Prime Minister in recruiting a large amount of troops for the Austenasian Army, and on 15 March gave Imperial Consent to Act 117 (Austenanasian Imperial Marine Corps), which established the Austenasian Imperial Marine Corps as a successor to the Imperial Navy. The large number of British students at the Emperor's school recruited to support him led to an unofficial military HQ being established - where those same students would usually meet socially was now used to discuss the war effort and possible battle tactics. On 25 March 2010, it was announced that a coronation was being planned for sometime between 5-16 April 2010, to help ceremonially further legitimise the Emperor's rule. On 6 April, the date was specified to be the 12th. This was postponed on the 11th to an unspecified date later in the month, but was later cancelled altogether until after the war was over. On 16 May 2010, the Austenasian Monarchical Referendum took place. Esmond III had agreed to abdicate should Princess Caroline receive significantly more support than him (although he was not legally bound to do so), and the Princess was bound by treaty to renounce her immediate claim to the Throne should the Emperor receive more votes than her. The latter occurred, the Emperor receiving double the amount of votes received by Princess Caroline. She formally renounced her claim to the Throne on 24 May with the signing of the Treaty of Ruskin Road (2010), ending the war and recognising the Emperor as the legitimate Monarch. Zenith of influence After the civil war was over, Emperor Esmond held significantly more power and influence over Austenasia and the surrounding community than Terry I ever had, mostly due to the huge increase in the Austenasian Armed Forces (amongst whom he was very popular) prompted by his recruitment drives. Despite this, he announced on 16 June 2010 that he wished to make Austenasia "a peaceful nation" and pledged to downsize the Armed Forces as much as was practical. Within a week, 11 soldiers (including the entire 2nd Wrythe Platoon) had been disbanded, and the Admiral of the AIMC had resigned. On 1 July, the now empty Marine Corps was disbanded. The military HQ which had developed in Esmond's school became in peacetime more of an "Imperial Court", where the Emperor would give Imperial Consent to Acts of Parliament, discuss governmental and policy issues with the Prime Minister and advisors, and was attended to by several "courtiers" who admired him as Emperor (one example being a self-proclaimed bodyguard of students in the year below who would often argue over the right to dispose of an empty drinks can of the Emperor). In the eyes of Esmondians, Esmond III was rightful successor (see translatio imperii) to the Western Roman Emperors, as the only sovereign Emperor in the West. The theory that all political authority derived from him led to him being asked by a new nation to appoint a legitimate leader for them - he gave Sir Calum Jarvis the rank of Caesar in early July, and so effectively founded the Caesarship of Orly. Although the Caesarship of Orly divided into the Kingdom of the Grove and the Kingdom of Copan later that month, both successor states recognised him as overlord. The Midget Nation-in-Exile had openly become a vassal of Esmond III by this time, and former foreign Carolinian nations such as Sterling and Blueskies were recognising him as rightful Monarch of Austenasia. This, along with a peak in his public and military popularity, led to July, August, and the first part of September 2010 being the zenith of the influence of Esmond III. Coronation On 18 September 2010, Esmond III paid an unexpected visit to Wrythe with two friends. After meeting Rose and Edd, and engaging in friendly greetings with his former enemy Princess Caroline and her mother Vicereine Margaret, the Emperor and his entourage accompanied Crown Prince Jonathan upstairs to the Prime Minister's Office. The Imperial Regalia had been stored there since during the civil war, and were presented to the Emperor by the Crown Prince. A narration by the Crown Prince descibes what happened next: This coronation differed from that of Terry I in many ways. Firstly, not all items of regalia were worn at the same time. Secondly, and most significantly, the Emperor crowned himself, following the example of the Byzantine and Russian Emperors, not of the British Kings and Queens. This, as well as the fact that the Emperor did not swear a coronation oath, reveals the change of national opinion towards the Monarchy, no longer seen as a constitutionally-bound figurehead but as the successor to the Western and Holy Roman Emperors (also shown in the Prime Minister's narrative of the event). Decrease of influence On 11 September 2010, King Declan I of Copan rejected Esmondian suzerainty over his kingdom. While seen at the time as nothing more than a result of a friendly rivalry between the two national leaders, Esmond III began to attempt to assert his authority and maintain his influence in several ways (his coronation a week later may have been one of them), many of which were viewed as rather eccentric. For example, the Monarch has the power to announce the official beginning and end of seasons in the Austenasian calendar - Esmond III began to sometimes announce sudden and illogical changes of season, to the extent that there were some days with more than three summers and four autumns (Crown Prince Jonathan adopted the convention that the Emperor exercised powers only on the advice of the Prime Minister - which had been developed under Terry I and was otherwised unused throughout Esmond's reign - in regards to this, and only appropriate announcements of seasonal change were recorded, the autumn of 2010 starting on 16 September and winter starting on 27 November). The Emperor also unilaterally declared random public holidays such as "Awesome Day", and - most infamously of all - demanded tribute of cake from all who attended him at his school-based "Imperial Court". On 11 October, Esmond III moved beyond simply abusing his powers, and tried to create a more formal cult of personality by declaring himself Pope of Legatism, a new religion which some of his most loyal followers joined as "disciples". One of his most famous displays of authority took place on 12 November 2010 - when Crown Prince Jonathan gave him some chocolate cake by request, Esmond III deposed his loyal servant Calum I as King of the Grove, and made the Crown Prince the Grove's new head of state as Lord Regent. Colonel Robert, the Vice-Pope of Legatism, then mocked Esmond's attempt to eat the cake with chopsticks, and so was removed as Vice-Pope, and Legatism renamed Esmondism (not to be confused with Esmondianism). All of these actions by Esmond III were attempts to show that he could wield power and authority without restraint, trying to reverse the decline in his influence by demonstrating that he was still a ruler to be reckoned with. However, this resulted in the opposite - while most of the Austenasian Army remained loyal followers of the Emperor, his actions accelerated the decline of his influence by decreasing the regard in which civilian residents held him. One of the less eccentric attempts by Esmond III to increase his standing towards the end of 2010 took place on 17 October, when the Emperor accompanied Crown Prince Jonathan to the Field and searched for King Alex's Bottle (see King of Rushymia). The Emperor climbed to the top of the fence and retrieved it, becoming the new King of Rushymia upon touching it with both hands. It was placed in the Emperor's bag, which was then stolen by a large dog which proceeded to run around the Field with it. By the time the owner had retrieved the Emperor's bag from the dog, the bottle had fallen out and was lost somewhere in the long grass (where it remained until being rediscovered on 5 April 2013). However, the Emperor had already touched it and therefore become the first King of Rushymia since Alex the Great more than a decade ago. Four days after he had assumed the title King of Rushymia, through Act of Parliament the Emperor also bestowed upon himself the dormant title General of Rushymia, and gave to James von Puchow the similarly vacant title Vizier of Rushymia. War of the Orlian Reunification Towards the end of November 2010, Esmond III began to secretly confide in Crown Prince Jonathan an idea which he had had to overthrow the constitutional monarchy of Austenasia and to rule as a dictator through a nominally communist regime. The Crown Prince decided that provision needed to be made for the deposition of Esmond should he attempt to act on this idea, and so he thought of and implemented preliminary stages of several contingency plans. On 8 December 2010, Esmond III told the Crown Prince that he wished to immenently overthrow the 2008 Constitution - panicking and fearing a revolution, the Crown Prince contacted King Declan I of Copan for advice, who persuaded him to enact a certain one of his contingency plans. The Crown Prince set it in motion by abdicating from the throne of the Kingdom of the Grove. Declan I then assumed the empty throne as Regent, his right under the Edict of Orly (the decree by Caesar Calum that divided the Caesarship of Orly into Copan and the Grove), to act as a provisional head of state during an interregnum until the Western Emperor could appoint a successor. Before Esmond III had a chance to appoint a successor to the throne of the Grove, however, Declan I as King of Copan and Regent of the Grove declared a reunification of the two kingdoms into the Tsardom of Orly, proclaiming himself Tsar. On 9 December, the Emperor demanded that he be permitted to excercise his right of appointing a new leader for the people of the Grove under the Edict of Orly. The Tsar refused, and declared the independence of the entirety of Orly from the Emperor's nominal suzerainty. In return, the Emperor declared a symbolic state of war between Orly and the titular resurrected nation of Rushymia, of which the Emperor was King. The Midget Nation-in-Exile had been allied with the Kingdoms of Copan and the Grove, and so considered Orly to have inherited their agreement of mutual defence. At the secret prompting of Crown Prince Jonathan, they declared war on Rushymia in response to the Emperor's declaration of war. As the Midget Nation had, at least since the Austenasian Civil War, been practically an Austenasian vassal, this act of hostility against the Emperor marked the end of the hegemony of Esmond III over the Carshalton Nations. The Midget Nation even went so far as to threaten Austenasia, which led to the Empire joining the war on the side of Rushymia against Orly and the Midgets on 10 December. When Austenasia entered the War of the Orlian Reunification, a State of Emergency was declared in the Empire for the first (and, to date, only) time in history. The Emperor was granted a large range of emergency powers, giving him practically absolute power, the only notable restraint on which was that Esmond III could not amend a previously passed Act of Parliament without the consent of Parliament itself. Crown Prince Jonathan made Esmond III aware that he had orchestrated the war, but pretended that it had been to grant Esmond III the emergency powers so that he could more legitimately become dictator - he also revealed that Declan I had been in on the plan, but likewise pretended that his ambitions ended with Orly. On 16 December, the Crown Prince persuaded Midget Fuhrer Thomas IV to allow the Midget Army to appoint Declan I the new Midget Master, as by joining the war on behalf of Declan I he was recognising a superior military authority (something no Midget Master had ever done before). Declan I therefore became the Fifth Midget Master, further increasing his authority within the Carshalton Nations. The Crown Prince had little to fear from reprisals, as the following day was the last that he would spend at school with Esmond until 2011 due to the Christmas holidays, and managed to hide news of Thomas's deposal (he was retained as a viceroy or field marshal of Declan over the Midgets) until the holidays had begun. On 19 December 2010, the Crown Prince surrendered Wrythe to the threat of a possible attack by the Midget Army, declared an end to the war, and along with his mother and sister as appointed Counsellors of State passed an Act of Parliament appointing the Midget Master, Declan I, II & V, joint Emperor, ruling alongside Esmond III. The Crown Prince claimed that Wrythe had fallen to a Midget attack and that he and the other Counsellors had been forced to appoint Declan joint Monarch; the true course of events was not made public until 19 December the following year. Esmond III was initially furious that Declan I had been appointed joint Monarch with him, and unilaterally declared over Skype to the Micropolitan Lounge (a prestigious chatroom of national leaders) that he would be imposing a new dictatorial regime over Austenasia. However, he was persuaded to retract this statement by Crown Prince Jonathan and Lord William, and accepted that any change to the Constitution would need the overt consent of the population. Joint reign with Declan I The power of Esmond III now extended only over Austenasia itself, and even there he had to share it with Declan I. This situation initially resulted in a resurgance of support for Esmond III within the Austenasian Army in the face of what they saw as unwelcome foreign domination by the former King of Copan, although the civilian population was by now firmly against Esmond being Emperor - unaware of the true reasons for the war or the fact that Crown Prince Jonathan was behind it (until a year later when he publicly admitted the full story), most now saw Esmond III as a power-hungry imperialist who had lost the Empire the war. Despite the army initially opposing the joint reign of Declan I out of principle, their support for Esmond himself almost immediately began to wane from 5 January 2011, when his school returned after the Christmas holidays. Gathering his Imperial Court together, he announced a revolution to place himself as a dictator. Crown Prince Jonathan asked whether this entailed abolishing the Throne - Esmond III replied ambiguously, the Crown Prince took it to mean yes, and placed his signature on an Act of Parliament recognising the abdication of Esmond III. Esmond immediately demanded that he be given the Act, but the Crown Prince was protected by Colonel Robert, an officer who had agreed to defend the constitutional government. Robert relented when Esmond offered to make him joint Pope of Esmondism (and rename the cult to ERtism), and the Crown Prince was forced to both hand over the Act (which was promptly torn up) and admit that Esmond had never abdicated. Despite not being tricked into losing all power, Esmond's declaration of a revolution was ignored by the army, who now began to see him in a new light after witnessing him being forced to bargain with an officer for his loyalty. A series of extremely popular administrative and structural reforms to the Austenasian Army given Imperial Consent by Declan I in Act 140 (Military Reform) the following week greatly increased the regard of the military for Esmond's co-Monarch. Having lost the support of both the population and the military of Austenasia, on 31 March 2011 the rule of Esmond III over Austenasia was made purely nominal as he was removed from the powers of the Throne by a Vote of No Confidence by Parliament. Under normal circumstances, this would have necessitated a Regency, but as Declan I also held the Throne, he assumed the full powers of the Monarchy. Esmond was completely removed as Monarch on 20 September 2011 by the enactment of the 2011 Constitution. Post-reign Just over four months after losing all power within the Empire, Esmond was appointed Prince of Copan by Declan I. It is unknown whether or not this was to compensate for having replaced him as overlord of the Carshalton Nations, or to "rub it in" by making Esmond an official vassal of his, but Esmond accepted the throne regardless. On 19 September 2011, the day before he would be removed as titular Emperor by the implementation of the Austenasian Constitution of 2011, Declan I appointed Esmond the new King of Saqqara with the regnal name of Ptolemy IV. This was very much a ceremonial appointment, however, Saqqara being located over seventy miles away from Esmond's place of residence, and ruled directly by Declan I anyway as part of the Kingdom of Wilcsland. Furthermore, Esmond was granted the rank of Caesar on 11 October later that year, but he lost the office Prince of Copan on 14 January 2012 when Declan declared Copan to be part of the United Kingdom of New Wessex. Esmond's title King of Saqqara was lost when the Kingdom of Saqqara was completely integrated into Wilcsland, its status as a subkingdom being abolished. The earliest and most likely date for this is 24 June 2013, but it could have been as late as mid-July. Despite no longer holding any political offices, Esmond remains a Caesar of the Empire, his status as which is greatly respected in the Carshalton Nations, the social life of which he still plays an active part in. Since the abdication of Declan I in January 2013 and the ascension of Crown Prince Jonathan to the Throne as Jonathan I, the reputation of Esmond III within Austenasia has been greatly rehabilitated. On 5 September 2014, Emperor Jonathan I formally apologised in person to Esmond for his role in the latter's fall from power, and on 29 October 2015 the newly annexed Crown Dependency of Esmondia was named after him. The reign of Esmond III is now remembered mostly for his overseeing of a massive increase in the Empire's local influence, and the "golden age" of court culture which grew up around him. Contribution to the theory of Imperium The Carshalton Nations adhere to the political theory of Imperium - that the Emperor of Austenasia holds the most senior diplomatic precedence of any ruler in the western world through the doctrine of translatio imperii. The reign of Esmond III and the views of his supporters were instrumental in the evolution of this theory. During the civil war, the Esmondian government attempted many different ways to further legitimise the Emperor's right to that title. Many secret operations, including Project Imperium, were set up. As a result of this, the government began to adopt a new political theory, heavily based on that of the late Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and early Holy Roman Empire: that there is a western and an eastern emperor (sometimes sharing the western or eastern throne with another emperor from a different nation), and that an Emperor's claim to that title can only be legitimised by being recognised as an Emperor by another one. From then on the Austenasian government viewed the Emperor of Austenasia as the Western Emperor, as although not yet legitimised he was the only ruling monarch recognised by Austenasia claiming that title in the West (despite being on the same side as New Europe during the civil war, the Esmondian government never actually granted official recognition to New Europe). They also recognised the Emperor of Japan as the legitimate Eastern Emperor. On 4 June 2011, HIM Emperor Sebastian I (recognised by the Austenasian Government as the legitimate claimant to the title of German Emperor) recognised the Austenasian Throne as holding full Imperial dignity, thereby legitimising the Emperor of Austenasia's claim to that rank. Titles and styles } |} *'9 June 1995 - 14 October 2009:' Esmond McLaughlin *'14 October 2009 - 16 February 2010:' Dark Lord Esmond, 2nd Duke of Highland, SCH **'14 October 2009 - 25 October 2009:' Legally Lord Esmond McLaughlin, 2nd Duke of Highland *'16 February 2010 - 20 September 2011:' HIM Emperor Esmond III *'20 September 2011 - 24 June 2013:' HM King Ptolemy IV *'24 June 2013 - present:' HIH Lord Esmond McLaughlin, 3rd Duke of Royton Awards and decorations * Supreme Companion of the Heir: 25/10/2009 - 21/8/2011 * New European Order of the White Lion: 21/3/2010 "For defending Austenasian and monarchist traditions during the Austenasian Civil War." Military appointments * Air Chief Marshal of the Imperial Air Force (honorary): 16/2/2010 - 20/9/2011 * Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy (honorary): 16/2/2010 - 20/9/2011 * General of Rushymia (honorary): 21/10/2010 - 13/4/2012 * Commander of the Quiet Area (honorary): 23/11/2010 - 20/9/2011 with Tribune Sir Terry Austen, KCJ (18 July 2009 - ) Lady Margaret Austen, Baroness of Glencrannog, DHJ, DOR, DPP (18 July 2009 - ) HIM Emperor Declan I (19 December 2010 - 20 January 2013)}} Tribune Sir Terry Austen, KCJ Lady Margaret Austen, Baroness of Glencrannog, DHJ, DOR, DPP HIM Emperor Declan I}} Category:Austenasia Category:Monarchs Category:Rushymia Category:Orly Category:Carshalton Nations Category:Heads of state Category:Caesars Category:Male micronationalists Category:People born in 1995 Category:Reigning monarchs Category:Current national leaders Category:Carshalton Sector Category:Male Micronationalists